The Pronounciation of "Machina" in FFX...
Just Another Victim of the Ambient Morality
So, I'm playing the American version of FFX and there are these things
they call "machina," pronounced ma-kki-na (a hard "ch," like mach 1). But
I'm pretty sure the word is latin, as in "deus ex machina," pronounced
ma-shi-na (a soft "ch," like machine).
Why do the American producers choose to pronounce it ma-kki-na? Does it
have anything to do with how the Japanese pronouced it? I don't know
anything about that since I've never played the Japanese version. Or did
the American producers simply make a mistake--they looked at the script and
didn't recognize the word or it's referrence and simply, mistakenly,
pronounced it this way?
Hayes
"Just Another Victim of the Ambient Morality" <ro...@localhost.localdomain>
wrote in message
news:kw5r9.438$%h2...@news02.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com...
dudester
they pronouced it correctly. if you had attended school beyond the 8th
grade you would have discussed this term and known that. but
no...you're a damn moron. instead you assume that a multi-million
dollar corporation is as dumb as you. go kill yourself you turd licker.
Helpy Helperton
"dudester" <moch...@zdnetmail.com> wrote in message
news:3DAD077E...@zdnetmail.com...
This really very odd... I have a bachelor's degree and I am a few months
away from receiving my juris doctor... and I never heard of "machina" the
whole time. Maybe you should write a letter to the department of education
and let them know what a piss-poor job our teachers are doing by not telling
students how to pronounce words found in video games.
While this may be a bit different subject, it is only slightly so... I
forgot the name of the producers of the Kessen/Dynasty Warriors series of
games, but there are some serious mispronunciations of the Chinese names in
the games. I took thirteen hours of Mandarin as an undergraduate, and I
laugh each time I hear the narrator read the Chinese games with "English"
pronunciations. Example: XiaHou Dun is NOT pronounced "see-a-how dunn."
I've emailed them and received a token reply. I guess they really don't
care to consult anyone that knows anything about proper pronunciation.
Since details matter to me in video games, that's a big sticking point. I
guess I'm the only one they've heard from, though.
DarienA
<I_Lov...@SpamLovers.com> wrote:
>> they pronouced it correctly. if you had attended school beyond the 8th
>> grade you would have discussed this term and known that. but
>> no...you're a damn moron. instead you assume that a multi-million
>> dollar corporation is as dumb as you. go kill yourself you turd licker.
>
>
>This really very odd... I have a bachelor's degree and I am a few months
>away from receiving my juris doctor... and I never heard of "machina" the
>whole time. Maybe you should write a letter to the department of education
>and let them know what a piss-poor job our teachers are doing by not telling
>students how to pronounce words found in video games.
>
>While this may be a bit different subject, it is only slightly so... I
>forgot the name of the producers of the Kessen/Dynasty Warriors series of
>games, but there are some serious mispronunciations of the Chinese names in
>the games. I took thirteen hours of Mandarin as an undergraduate, and I
>laugh each time I hear the narrator read the Chinese games with "English"
>pronunciations. Example: XiaHou Dun is NOT pronounced "see-a-how dunn."
>I've emailed them and received a token reply. I guess they really don't
>care to consult anyone that knows anything about proper pronunciation.
>Since details matter to me in video games, that's a big sticking point. I
>guess I'm the only one they've heard from, though.
>
This argument has gotten pretty anal... for the record:
Main Entry: de·us ex ma·chi·na
Pronunciation: 'dA-&s-"eks-'mä-ki-n&, -'ma-, -"nä; -m&-'shE-n&
Rincewind
I was assuming that they just used the word 'machina', and made up
their own pronunciation...
Mike Keith
>
>Main Entry: de·us ex ma·chi·na
>Pronunciation: 'dA-&s-"eks-'mä-ki-n&, -'ma-, -"nä; -m&-'shE-n&
>
You'll notice that that doesn't answer the original poster's question, since it
gives _both_ the hard K and the SH pronunciation.
But back to the OP's question.
The seeming paradox (why is the Latin "machina", which should be pronounced
with a SH, not pronounced that way?) arises from the fact that "deus ex
machina" is a transliteration from the Greek of (here I'm again forced to
transliterate) "theos ek mechanes" (lit., a God from a machine). In Greek the
letter in question is a "chi", which is pronounced with a hard K sound. When
the Latin phrase became common (I believe in Medieval times) it was pronounced
with the Greek pronunciation (since it was, after all, just a transliteration).
This custom has continued down to the present day.
This doesn't 100% answer the question of how to pronounce "machina" in
isolation, but I think the identification with the famous catch-phrase makes K
clearly preferred.
Gav³
> grade you would have discussed this term and known that. but
> no...you're a damn moron. instead you assume that a multi-million
> dollar corporation is as dumb as you. go kill yourself you turd licker.
>
I thought you died? ;p
Doug Jacobs
> While this may be a bit different subject, it is only slightly so... I
> forgot the name of the producers of the Kessen/Dynasty Warriors series of
> games, but there are some serious mispronunciations of the Chinese names in
> the games. I took thirteen hours of Mandarin as an undergraduate, and I
> laugh each time I hear the narrator read the Chinese games with "English"
> pronunciations. Example: XiaHou Dun is NOT pronounced "see-a-how dunn."
> I've emailed them and received a token reply. I guess they really don't
> care to consult anyone that knows anything about proper pronunciation.
> Since details matter to me in video games, that's a big sticking point. I
> guess I'm the only one they've heard from, though.
The assumption is if you know enough of the language to understand how
things are being mispronounced, you're probably going to want to listen to
the non-English track. Of course, Dynasty Warriors' original track is in
Japanese - which doesn't make sense for a game taking place in feudal China...
DarienA
>You'll notice that that doesn't answer the original poster's question, since it
>gives _both_ the hard K and the SH pronunciation.
>
>But back to the OP's question.
>
>The seeming paradox (why is the Latin "machina", which should be pronounced
>with a SH, not pronounced that way?) arises from the fact that "deus ex
>machina" is a transliteration from the Greek of (here I'm again forced to
>transliterate) "theos ek mechanes" (lit., a God from a machine). In Greek the
>letter in question is a "chi", which is pronounced with a hard K sound. When
>the Latin phrase became common (I believe in Medieval times) it was pronounced
>with the Greek pronunciation (since it was, after all, just a transliteration).
> This custom has continued down to the present day.
>
>This doesn't 100% answer the question of how to pronounce "machina" in
>isolation, but I think the identification with the famous catch-phrase makes K
>clearly preferred.
>
It does in that both are generally accepted pronunciations in this
crazed bizarro language we call English. ;)
dudester
And I came back. I'm like jesus. Only with a bigger dick.